Sarah's Weekly Update 1-17-12

posted Jan 17, 2012, 9:03 AM by Cynthia Friedman

Well it has been a busy week in Room 10. Students’ focus is really starting to gel, and we’ve had an energetic "hum" running all week. I am loving it!

AcademicsThis week the students decided to rebel against the unfair taxes that they were being asked to pay. As a result, on Tuesday the class wrote a Declaration of Independence. We did have a few (3) who were not ready to leave the safety net provided by Queen Natasha of the planet of Red Star, setting the stage for a very short, painless war on Friday, taking the form of Capture the Red Star. The loyalists were quickly overpowered and a truce was formed.

In science I introduced subatomic particles. Students discussed information that they already knew, and came up with a long list of questions that they wanted to know more about. Then students picked out 5 of the questions on the list and researched the answers to them.

We have a lot of area and perimeter work going on in math and geometry. Some students are working with rectangles, others with triangles, and a few with irregular shapes. Several students are working with fractions, finding equivalents, changing improper fractions to mixed numbers or vice versus, and adding them together.

Character EducationCarmen Coleman has agreed to come and start working with both Upper Elementary classes on character education once a week. She started in our class this week and talked with the kids about what it means to stick with each other. She explained that when you support others, and work to build everyone up instead of putting them down, and work for everyone’s best interest, you are sticking with them. Carmen also challenged the class to stick together for one full day and see how that felt.

Oregon Battle of the BooksStudents who are interested in participating in OBOB this year have begun reading the books on the book list. Starting soon, they will be meeting after school with coaches. More information on that will be going home soon.